Word: concertos
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...expected, Balanchine made virtually no concessions to accepted Russian dance taste, which has been shaped by the 19th century-oriented Bolshoi and Kirov companies. Indeed, he offered some of the company's most abstract works, like his Violin Concerto (set to Stravinsky) and Jerome Robbins' Goldberg Variations (Bach), dances that eschew decor, spectacle and story line in favor of balanced and unbalanced compositions that are mod, sexy and athletic. The results were varied. The Georgians in their sunny Italianate capital, Tbilisi, responded more enthusiastically to those works than ballet-goers in Kiev and Leningrad. But more traditional Balanchine...
...program for the content might be called imaginative if only for the inclusion of Poulenc's Concerto in G Minor for Organ, Strings, and Tympani, James Johnson, Music Director of the church and organ soloist, has an impressive technique at his disposal. He tore right into the beginning of the Poulenc--a dramatic start with the volcanic sound of double bass and tympani joining the organ...
...ORCHESTRA ALSO played for the Handel Organ Concerto No.4.Though hardly a weighty work, the sense of ensemble between soloist and orchestra displayed the piece to great advantage. Handel's fine sense of tone color was especially evident in the oboe parts, which were beautifully played. The first movement was lively, but Johnson's tempo in the Adagio lagged painfully, lacked phrasing, and made every step of the walking bass far too staccato...
...taxed equiably. The hithert faceless men of the Governing Boards, who exercise almost absolute power over the affairs of the University, turn out to be successful corporate executives and lawyers, hardly the types of individuals one can easily contemplate marvelling at the beauty of Virgil or composing a viola concerto...
...because audiences were too remote to put down. And because behind the gargoyle there always seemed a tortured and sympathetic soul. It takes little psychoanalytic skill to understand why Levant was so fond of recalling his argument with Toscanini. The maestro differed with him over the interpretation of the Concerto in F. "But Mr. Gershwin wanted it this way," protested Levant...